A whole new world
by Mika Uriah
Summary: If you were to bet on what Ashley's favourite room in the sanctuary would be...you'd lose money.


Disclaimer: As per always; I own nothing.

If anyone were to meet Ashley Magnus, they would assume that her favourite room in her mother's sanctuary would've been the armory all those weapons to clean and practice firing. Maybe it would've been the full dance studio that her mom put in and had all of Ashley's dance trophies, or the gym where she kept up on the latest cravings to get in shape and keep up the body that she was so willing to sport in those tight little tank top and yoga pants.

If they guessed those rooms, yeah, okay they'd be high on the list, but, they would lose money. Her favorite room was the library, a room she was convinced as a child rivalled the one in her favourite animated movie: Beauty and the beast, it had every book that she could ever want on any subject, and the ones that she couldn't find books on, she probably wouldn't want to read about anyway.

If you walked up stairs and onto the second floor of the library there was a couch in the African historical section, where Ashley lost her virginity and her favourite set of earrings. The earrings she lost in the couch, the virginity she lost to Declan: her uncle James Watson's protégé – she's not entirely sure if her mother: Helen Magnus knew about her losing her virginity to Declan, but both women seem to come to the conclusion that pretending it never happened was best for everyone involved.

The tables near the back that were set up study sessions, was a chance to show everyone that she was smarter than she let on: a real book worm with a deep understanding of all things environmental. That attributed mostly to Henry teasing her about her 'save the whales' attitude – but she just couldn't sit there and not try to save one of humanity's most valuable resources; there were only three people in the Sanctuary network that knew that Ashley had a Masters degree from the University of Toronto of all places and she lived with two of them. One of those people was her mother and the other one was Henry.

The tables was also were she figured out how to beat a guy at arm wrestling, the ins and outs of the importance of finding the right bra thanks to a cosmo magazine that she stole from her mother's night stand.

The second and third floors had windows, the third floor there was a bay window with a window seat where her and a girl at school: Shareka Early shared a cigarette. It was Ashley's first and last: especially if she wanted to try and get into dance seriously, but an injury screwed that up for her anyway.

The couch in front of the fire place was where she would talk to her mother about broken hearts and random things as she watched the flames lick wood and they ate ice cream till Ashley was either sick of crying or sick of eating ice cream.

The same couch where her mom watched her slide along the ladders and let Ashley pretend that she flying and being Peter Pan or Wendy or Tinkerbelle or whoever else got into the little girl's imagination.

The storage closet in the back often served as a wardrobe for to try and find Narnia in, oh the places little Ashley Magnus had gone in this library were too countless to name.

She's open books and flip pages and bounce from adventure to adventure all within the span of her opening and closing a book: she joined the circus, she solved mysteries with Nancy drew and found out the answers to the secrets and mysteries of the universe: both fictional and nonfictional, respectfully.

there something strangely erotic to Ashley when someone read to her out loud, there was something strangely settling as she flipped over dog-eared yellowing pages of her favourite stories and her hand were covered in dust from a book that hasn't been touched for a long time.

Many little girls growing up had their favourite scents: some like CK some liked Exclamations or whatever perfumes their mother let them where from their own boudoir collection; but for Ashley...if you could bottle it, Ashley Magnus's favourite scent was that of paper dust and ink, her favourite sound was the sound of pages wrinkling and spines cracking of a newly opened book and the way smudges of blue-black inky circles will be found under her eyes when she stayed up all night and read her newest find.

She loved the way that her and her mother would often trade books and talk about their favourites as if they were a part of some club that no one else knew about.

There were very few Sundays where you couldn't find both Magnus girls under a blanket and couch cushioned fort in the library laughing and giggling as the boat was transformed to Blackbeard's boat, or a caved dwelling.

Ashley loved sitting on the floor as her mom combed her hair as she told her about their family tree, or the adventures of being one of 'the five.'

Ashley was young at 23, but she was pretty sure the adventures alone she had in her mind while sitting here in this room could be stored in a museum.

It was the only place in the Sanctuary that was her sanctuary. The only place that she knew of that could take her to a whole new world and she wouldn't have to dare leave the safety of the walls. If she got scared all she had to do was close the book.

Ashley was pretty sure that if you had to bet on what her favourite room in the sanctuary would be…you'd lose money.


End file.
